Thank you for your excellent coverage of this issue. This is exactly the kind of thing a university should not do. Colorado State University is in a backwater conference and always will be. I guess they are thinking, “If you build it they will come,” but this is a bit much to stomach.

Understandably, professional teams need new stadiums every 20 years or so if the city is to insure against losing its team. Universities have no such fears and tend to justify the expensive facilities through more effective recruiting.

The CSU football team has never been what one would consider “good” for more than a few years at a time, and a fancy new stadium paid in part by students isn’t going to change that.

It’s always the students who suffer when athletic departments at mid-major schools have delusions of grandeur. This CSU pipe dream should be dumped in favor of some strategic, cosmetic remodeling.

Darrin Duber-Smith, Denver

This letter was published in the Oct. 4 edition.

For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here[2]. Follow DPLetters[3] on Twitter to receive updates about new letters to the editor when they’re posted.

Does that…..$125,000,000…..spent on a “game”….a “stadium”…..really meet the “needs” of what a “University” supposedly exists for? Or could that $125,000,000 be put to….”better use”….in funding actual “Educational”…..”academics”….”Research”…..”Studies”…..that actually might lead to a new discovery for a cure for some illness…..a new treatment for an illness or injury……..new energy sources….a better battery for automotive use….or a better understanding of our planet, our environment, the various eco-systems, and our world around us……instead of spending in on the “goal” of….”kicking goals” and “scoring points” in a “game” that has no real academic or educational value….but merely becomes the “ultimate, 3-D HD “TV”” for “entertainment” purposes……assuming one gets a seat close enough to the action and is not stuck up the “nose-bleed” seats.

$125,000,000. That like 100 additional teachers/professors teaching for 10 years at $125,000 a year.

That’s also like 6 Million Thankgiving Meals put out by the Salvation Army and the Denver Rescue Mission…..each year for the next Ten Years.

The above was the “criticism.”

I will now acknowledge the Obvious I often point out: The “funds” are apparently being raised through “fund-raising” and not the use of Tax Payer Dollars. If that IS the case, then People have the Absolute RIGHT to spend Their Own Money however they wish to.

#2 Comment By Anonymous On October 4, 2012 @ 12:13 am

The sad fact apparently is, Robtf, that the “big bucks” alumni that the fund-raisers will pitch this stadium to would rather have a fancy pleasure palace for athletes cooling their heels in college for a few years before playing for the NFL than funding all of the true academic items you mention in your second paragraph.
$125 million wouldn’t put an astronaut on the moon, but it would fund a heckuva lot of drinking water projects for those in India and Africa who currently don’t have it.
Especially since Hughes Stadium probably has a lot of good years left in it.
But a fancy luxury box in a fancy stadium so that big-wigs can entertain in style while the Rams play football has more sex appeal.

#3 Comment By Phil On October 4, 2012 @ 4:47 am

I personally do not think colleges should be in the sports business. However, I don’t think you can criticize CSU for trying to raise private funds to pay for a new stadium by saying that money should be spent elsewhere. CSU just raised over 500 million for academics and they are one of the top Universities in the country (I think number one for non-medical schools.) in research money. CSU is not forgetting their true mission, they are just trying to get name recognition and, unfortunately, football is one of the best ways to accomplish that.